I have had a few people asking questions about the candidates on the ballot for the Central Davis Sewer District Board.  Since this information is not readily available, I decided to contact the candidates to try and gather information.  Many of the answers have been verbally given and paraphrased.  Hopefully this helps.

 

What exactly does the sewer district do?

(asked via facebook and answered by Steve Brough, current board member)

The Board meets monthly or more often if needed. We work with the three cities on planning future growth and keeping up with State and federal regulations. We have an excellent Staff and they keep the toilets flushing. At the present time we are watching to see how the West Davis Corridor is going to affect the plant. We have over 150 acres and the plant is an award wining bio solids land application facility. We could lose about a third of our land which could drastically change how we process the bio solids. If we don’t succeed in getting the road in the right place we could have to spend a lot of money to build new treatment facilities and that could possibly raise rates. We have a great board with a lot of experience. The Staff does a lot of school tours and the kids love to take the tours. We take a lot of tree trimmings from the cities and grind them up to make compost. It is quite a process. If anyone has questions call myself or the plant and we can answer your concerns. Thanks, Steven Brough”  

 

(In addition to the following information, you can click on each of the names to be linked to their vote.utah.gov profile)

 

 

Susan Holmes  

  1. Why do you want to serve on the Central Davis Sewer District Board?
    • I’ve been involved with the Central Davis Sewer District as a Board member of over 10 years and have over 45 hours of continuing education credit on all facets of running and processes of the sewer.
  2. What experience do you have in this type of work?
    • Each year I take a special training designed by the State for local elected officials concerning all laws and concerns elected officials deal with. I’ve taken over 12 of these yearly sessions, plus over 12 of the yearly sessions dealing with open meeting laws.
  3. What have you done to gain understanding of state and federal sewer regulations?
    • As Utah’s first Board representative to the National Association of Clean Water Agencies representing CDSD, I have spent the last 9 years dealing with local, regional, and national waste-water and clean water issues. I have been very involved in ensuring EPA does not overstep their regulatory powers.
  4. What concerns do you see upcoming for the Central Davis Sewer District?
    • One of the biggest concern facing CDSD is UDOT’s desire to cut across district land. I have been directly involved in the negotiation process for 10 years, but this year, they got funding and are plowing ahead and not listening to any recommendations. Changing the entire sewer district process will take hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars and I understand all available processes and the costs and concerns of each potential process.
  5. What will your priorities be for the Central Davis Sewer District?
    • The chief priority for the District is my chief priority also: Provide the highest and safest quality of sewer service to our residents as the lowest price. During my tenure we have only raised sewer rates two times to meet EPA and state mandates.

 

Michael Rouche  

  1. Why do you want to serve on the Central Davis Sewer District Board?
    • I have lived in Kaysville my entire life and am very familiar with what goes on there.  With all of the changes that the CDSD is facing, I want to make sure that the costs are not passed on to the residents.
  2. What experience do you have in this type of work?
    • I have been in retail hardware for 25 years and have done development project that have helped me understand water works.  I understand how the system works and what is required.  The district is currently working with a lot of antiquated product and the prior director has done a good job at keeping it working with minimal cost increases.
  3. What have you done to gain understanding of state and federal sewer regulations?
    • I am still growing in knowledge.  I served on the Kaysville Planning Commission and have a cursory understanding.  I have been in contact with employees at the district for 25 years and know that the regulations are constantly changing so gaining understanding of regulations has to be ongoing.
  4. What concerns do you see upcoming for the Central Davis Sewer District?
    • The biggest concern is the West Davis Corridor and mitigation of how process will be handled.  It looks like the process of land application to get rid of bio solids (composting) will, most likely, be going away thus requiring more trucking of waste.  The quantity of waste will require a drying system to make transportation easier.
  5. What will your priorities be for the Central Davis Sewer District?
    • Mitigating the cost being past onto residents for the WDC changes is the top priority.  Making sure that the internal infrastructure is up to date with minimal expense to the public is second.

 

Mark Johnson

  1. Why do you want to serve on the Central Davis Sewer District Board?
    • The reason I want to serve on the board is: to be frank water treatment is a messy business and  I LIVE HERE!  I want to help keep this extremely important utility running smoothly. Central Davis Sewer District has a very professional staff and they are great to work with, the Board of Trustees are all excellent people as well.
  2. What experience do you have in this type of work?
    • My experience in this work includes: 4 years on the Sewer Dist. Board of Trustees ( which includes various training sessions, workshops etc.). Additionally I have prior public service experience serving 10 years on the Kaysville City Council.
  3. What have you done to gain understanding of state and federal sewer regulations?
    • To gain understanding of State and Federal Regulations: We have had many discussions on this topic in our monthly board meetings, I have carefully read the reports on the subject before the board meetings, and I have attended various conferences, workshops, and presentations.
  4. What concerns do you see upcoming for the Central Davis Sewer District?
    • Concerns for the future include: New regulations that will require new or addition treatments ( such as more stringent phosphorus removal which will require adding chemical treatments or purchasing new equipment and building new facilities to meet the new regulations) and of course mitigating the impact of the West Davis Corridor which will be taking several acres of sewer district land which will require major changes to plant operations, I will seek to keep the expense of these impacts as small as possible.
  5. What will your priorities be for the Central Davis Sewer District?
    • Priorities: As per number four above we live in a time of change and because I live here too, I want to be forward thinking about long term needs and cost efficiency, I want my taxes and fees to be low like everyone else and just like everyone else I also never want to have a  sewer problem, so that is my priority namely a great working water treatment facility that meets our needs and does not cost any more than necessary.

 

Sherman Cloward  

  1. Why do you want to serve on the Central Davis Sewer District Board?
    • I’ve been on the board for 16 years.  It has been a wonderful experience.  I was not going to file for re-election but decided to put in another term due to the changes coming with the West Davis Corridor as well as the lower limits on phosphorus and nitrogen that the state is imposing.  For the water quality changes, we will start with chemical changes and if that does not work, procedural will need to be made.  Additionally, we are getting pretty close to capacity and will be needing to add some equipment purchases.  As more water flows into the district, we may need to add an additional aeration ditch.  These updates will be done through bonding and could increase resident charges.
  2. What experience do you have in this type of work?
    • After I retired and served a mission, I found out a friend on the board was going to move.  I put in an application and they selected me.  Prior to getting appointed, my experiences were in managing a garage and 30+ at Hill AFB.  I have enjoyed the process.  I have been to a number of training sessions and will be going to one next week in Layton (Utah Association of Special Districts).
  3. What have you done to gain understanding of state and federal sewer regulations?
    • A lot of meetings.  As part of the meeting next week, they will teach us about the legislation that is coming down about the new water quality regulations.  I am really involved with the water quality board.  I feel that the new regulations won’t affect the Great Salt Lake but the imposed regulations will end up costing resident’s money.
  4. What concerns do you see upcoming for the Central Davis Sewer District?
    • With the WDC- Kaysville putting road on east side of property, Farmington wants a connector road on south end.  As people come closer, it creates issues over odors.  Thousands of dollars have been spent on odor control.  Our regulations are that you cannot apply bio solids within 500 feet of people.  All of the new roads will put a large strain on this regulation.  The last few increases came about 4 years ago and was ~$2/month.  The new equipment bonding could add up to $2.50/month.
  5. What will your priorities be for the Central Davis Sewer District?
    • Provide the best services at the lowest cost.  We have a moto to let customers flush and forget.  This is a balancing act but we have a wonderful crew.

 

 

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